Progress
by northernexposure
Summary: A short, speculative scene based on a couple of shots from the preview of next week's episode.


**Progress**

Lewis/Hobson Angst/UST

**A/N:** I seem to have Lewis and Hobson in my head this week. This is a short scene speculating on the outcome of what hinted at in the trailer for next week's ep.

_Laura: Robbie! Be careful, there'll be gas bottles!_

* * *

Laura pulled up short as he disappeared inside the narrow boat, letting the noxious smoke billow over him as if he were somehow entirely impervious.

"Robbie!" She shouted, out of breath and reeling in the horror of his stupidity. "_Robbie_!"

She could hear sounds from inside, noises of exertion. Pulling out her mobile, Laura dialed 999 and called for all three emergency services, all the while warily eyeing the gas canisters standing on the boat's prow. She couldn't see any flames – just fat black smoke, but-

He reappeared in the doorway, arse first, shoulders hunched, ducking his head, and Laura realised he was pulling something. She moved closer, shoving her phone back in her jacket pocket and reaching out to help.

"Away, man," he barked, over his shoulder. "Get to a safe distance, for god's sake!"

She ignored him, muscling her way in to grab the inert figure's right shoulder. Together they pulled the body out – it was a girl, young and dark and pretty. It didn't take Laura's medical knowledge to realise instantly that even if they got her out of the fire's way, she was far beyond help. An evil, bloody wound marred her right temple, too deep to be survivable. They pulled her out regardless, dragging her to the other side of the path and laying her on the grass, both out of breath.

"She's dead," Laura said.

He bent double, hands on his knees, breathing hard. "Aye, I can see that."

She looked up at him as the first police siren pierced the distant air, growing closer. His face was blackened by soot that had outlined the deep grooves of the crow's feet around his eyes.

"Are you all right?" She asked, as he rubbed the stuff from his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"I'm fine." He stood up, taking one last breath and lifting one arm to signal over her head as the sound of pounding feet crunched from the other end of the towpath.

She carried on looking at him, adrenaline bleaching from her heart, replaced instead by an anger that was suddenly white-hot and all-consuming.

"You complete and utter idiot. What the hell were you thinking?"

He glanced back down at her. "What?"

She stared at him for another moment before brushing past him and heading away down the towpath, away from the gathering swarm of emergency personnel.

"Laura?"

She ignored his shout, refusing to even look around. She didn't even know where she was going – her car was in the opposite direction. But the rage was extraordinary, boiling in her gut like lava, and Laura didn't even want to look at him, much less stand answering questions as the officers gathered around them. She'd give a statement later, right now she just needed to get-

"Laura!"

His proximity took her by surprise – she hadn't heard or expected him to come after her. The blood rushing in her ears had drowned out the crunch of his footsteps on the gravel until he was close enough to catch her by the arm. The momentum spun her round until she faced him. The expression on his face was one of infuriating incomprehension.

"Hey," he said. "What's the matter?"

"What's the _matter_? You just risked your life on a burning boat to save a dead body, and you're asking me what the _matter_ is?"

He frowned, clearly perplexed by the depth of her anger. "I didn't know she was dead until I got in there, did I? What did you want me to do, leave her there on the off-chance?"

"You could have died!"

"But I didn't, did I? And at least now whatever evidence is on her we can get at, eh?"

Laura stared at him again, speechless, and it occurred to her that they really didn't know each other at all. Or rather, he didn't know _her _at all. He had absolutely no concept of why she might be upset, why she might object to him risking his life on a fool's errand right in front of her, why she-

"Hey," he said, more gently, reaching out to touch her elbow. "Come on now. What's this about?"

She shook her head. "You could have died," she said again.

He frowned again. "But-"

"-you didn't. Yeah, I know."

Suddenly the anger left her, draining away to leave her weary to her bones. Laura put both hands up to her face, covering her eyes briefly, and then turned away. A bench stood, looking out over the churning river, and she made for it. Robbie followed, and they sat, side by side, looking out over the water.

Laura glanced at his blackened face. "You look ridiculous," she said.

He raised his eyebrows, and then, remembering the soot, dug in his pocket to pull out a white handkerchief. She almost smiled at that, and then did smile, though sadly, as he used it to mop his face. Laura wondered briefly where the hankie had come from, wondered whether, in fact, it was a remnant left over from when Val was alive. She couldn't see Robbie Lewis buying handkerchiefs of his own volition. She rested her cheek in her hand and her elbow on her knee and watched.

"How long have we known each other?" she asked, as he glanced at the ruined scrap of fabric before scrunching it up and stuffing it back in his pocket.

He scrunched up his face in concentration, leaning back on the bench as he said, "Oh, I don't know - it's got to be a good decade now, hasn't it?"

"Eighteen years. It's _eighteen years_, Robbie."

His face registered surprise. "Nah. Surely not?"

"It is."

"Well, it doesn't feel that long."

She smiled, dropping her hand and clasping both between her knees, looking down at the gravel under her feet. "Have you never wondered why I never moved on? You know – never got another job, for example?"

Robbie shrugged – she saw the movement from the corner of her eye. "I just thought you liked it where you were - here. Oxford's a nice town, after all," he paused. "Isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." She blinked, screwing up her courage, and then leaned back, but didn't look at him. "I've been offered another job. It'd be a good move for me. A promotion – I'd be running the team."

"Oh," he said. "That's – great, Laura. Really, really… great."

"Is it?"

"A promotion? Of course it is!"

"It'd mean moving."

"Where to?"

She swallowed. "Cumbria. The Lakes."

There was a pause, before he said, "That's a beautiful part of the world."

Laura smiled. "It is. I love it there."

"Well, then. Good for you."

She sighed. "Is that all?" Laura opened her eyes and looked over at him. "This isn't the first time I've been offered an opportunity like this, you know. I've had quite a few offers, over the years. Good offers. But I never even thought about saying yes. Not seriously."

"Why not?"

"Like you said, I liked it here. And I suppose I felt as if there were unfinished business."

He frowned slightly, and she wished she could tell what he was thinking. "And now there isn't?"

Laura laughed, a short burst of air with hardly any mirth in it. "I just think it's time to move on. Time to wrap things up. I've been… here… long enough."

"I'll miss you."

Whatever she'd expected him to say, it wasn't that. Laura looked up at him, at his face, softened by years and grief and the weight of so much responsibility and the burden of being alone, and suddenly wondered how she could ever do without it.

"Robbie," she said, and the words were out of her mouth before she'd even had a chance to think them. "The problem is that I miss you _now_."

The statement shocked them both. They sat, staring at each other. Robbie's hand twitched towards hers, and then stopped, dropping to rest on the bench toward them.

"Sir?"

The intrusion made them both jump. A young constable hovered several feet away. "I'm sorry, sir. They need you."

Robbie nodded, and then slowly stood up as the officer walked away. Laura stood, too, her heart punching a strange rhythm in her chest. They stood facing each other.

"Is that what all that was about, then?" he asked, after a moment.

"All what?"

He nodded his head back up the towpath to where the smoke had finally stopped pouring from the narrow boat. "Not wanting me to go in there, like?"

For a moment she was silent. Then she laughed - at herself, at them. "Yes," she said. "I suppose it was."

He was looking at her, straight in the eye, with an intensity she'd rarely seen before, and had never been at the receiving end of. There was something humbling about it. "When do you leave? You know, for the Lakes?"

"I haven't said yes, yet. I said I'd let them know by next week. And then I'd have to work out notice, anyway. So it'd be a few months."

He nodded, still staring at her. "Dinner tomorrow night?"

Laura smiled, and then nodded. "Yes."

He smiled, and it was so much the reason she was still there. Still, after eighteen years. "Let's go and look at this poor lass, shall we?"

[END]


End file.
